Apparatus for automatically painting articles in bulk



1. E. KARL. APPAHATUS'FOR AUTOMATICALLY PAINTING ARTICLES IN BULK.

'APPLICATION FILED oct. 4. 1918.

Patented sept 20,1921.

NM. NM.

J. E. KARL. APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY PAINTING ARTICLES IN BULK.

`APPLICATION' man om. 4, 1918.

PILISBI'IISGSOPI?. 20, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

'1. E. KARL. y

`APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY PAINTING ARTICLES IN BULK.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 4, I\9I8 A i 1,391,388. Patentedsept. 20,1921,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

TCI-IU' y painting articles or otherwisie UNITED STATES PATENT,oFFlcl-z.

.-:rUraUsnl KARL, or 'PnoRIAQiLLINoIs ArPARA'iUs Fon AUTOMATICALLYrAiN'rING ARTICLESIN BULK.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept', 20, 19'2] Application1ed October 4, 1918. Serial No. 256;894.

T 0 all whom t may concern." l

Be it known that I, JULIUs E. KARL, citizen of the United States,residing atPeoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, 'haveinvented certain new and useful Improvementsin Apparatus Jr'orAutomatically Painting Articles in Bulk; and I do' hereby declare thatthe following is a full,

clear, and'eXact description of the invention, which wil-l enable othersskilled in the art to which it appert'ains to make and use the same. 1 l

Y This invention relates to an apparatusfor covering them with aprotecting material. The invention relates more particularly,"however,to the treatment of a bulk or quantity of manu-A factured materials,such as castings or parts made of wood or other material entering intothe manufacture ofmachines. Y' l The main object of my invention is tocoat in bulk, quantities of Vcastings or wooden parts entering'i'nto'themanufacture of machines, while piled on vtrucks or other carriers,'which upon such trucks V'or carriers are -in most ca-ses'separatelyYdipped into the paint or other coating material. g

Another object is to submit to treatment of a protecting material, suchVas a paint, truck loads oi' castings or parts made otw-oodV or othermaterial entering into the construe" tion of machines withoutremoving'thesame from their trucks.

Another object is to truck loads of lthe materialsy to beV treated uponbeing placed within the zone occupied by the apparatus vwillbeautomatically coated and drained and then removed from such zone. Y 'fOther objects and advantages'will appear in thefollowing'spe'ciii'cation.

To the end that my invention may be--understood, I have provided the'accompanying drawings, wherein, y

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional' elevation of a struct-ure showingmy apparatus; Fig. 2 is a plany of certain portions of the same',somewhatV enlarged; Figj Vis an elevation o a loadedltruck andl certainelements used` .for automatically movingthe same; y Fig. isliows, inperspective, certain operating'parts;l f'

castings or parts while piled' provide an apparatus which will beautomatic in its action, that Fig. 5 is 'a transverse section'ofaninclosure 'or housing and a track and a truck mounted-y upon the latter;

f' Fig. 6 is a view similar to thatshown in Fig.5 as to said tracks, andtruck, 'showing a different position of the latter;

M Fig. 7 shows, in perspective, a p'o'rtimoiv the tracksshown inl Figs.5 and 6, and a guard' rail Fig. 8 is an elevation of apaint-distributing pipe-system showing two tilted positionsV of apair oftrucks thereunder; v 'Fig'. 9 is an elevation of one of the wheels ofa'truck, and a stop'y devicey therefor;

' Fig. 10' is a longitudinal sectional elevation, similar lto Fig. 1, ofa modified `form of apparatus; v

Fig. ll is a plan'of certain track-'portions, a truck mounted thereon,and adrag device for the latter; l Fig.- 12 is an -elevatioininytransverse section, of part-of the apparatus shown in Fig. 10 fand, H

l Fig. '13 is an'elevationof a track vportion and a stop-device fora-rtruok-wheel.

Heretofore it has been customary,"espe cially "with regard toparts ofwood'ente'ring into the'I-construction ofr` machinery, to

dip such parts `by ihand, .-such"ha'nd'treat' mentbeing thought'necessary inf order to thoroughly coversuchpartsfwith the coatingmaterial -and from being'. no method devised 'forth'e purpose of dippingthe'entire A'bu-lk. As the :hand anethod i'sexpensive inr that much'time and labor is involved, I have devised the apparatus herein-whichhas been found-to yield satisfactoryresult's in the' treatment otrentiretruck loadsV without handling the ymaterials in any way and that will'be -treated in an entirely automaticzmanner. f f

l zIn-the first nine'-igureslY represents the twolrails, of a,'trackwhich, in the present instance, is shown'overhang-ing anexcavation, vsuch zas 2 in which is stationed a suitable :trough 3v forV'containing ithe coating material over whichqtrough said track alsoextends', itbe'- g understood, however, that thezt'rough Ymay be builtabove.` ground and the .track extendedupgover it if desired, althoughthe ymethod described and shown is preferablev since most convenient. lCovering said trough 3 is a housing 4 which is provided .merely as aprotection v against fire being communicated to the paint the fact alsoof there ros ' 'wheels' 16 at each end, and in the the shaft 7 in insaid trough, said housing being provided withV doors 5 at each end toautomatically open and close in the `movement of the trucks, approachingand leaving said housing. The mechanism for operating the doors is notshown in Fig. 1 since to do so would unnecessarily complicate thatfigure and make itdifiicult to read. This mechanismis shown, however, inFigs. 2 and 4 wherein 6 and 7 indicate two rock shafts, one outside andthe other inside the housing 4 beneath the rails 1. The shaft 6 which isoutside has at each end an upturned arm -8 each of which isconnectedwith one of the doors 5 by means of rods 9,V said shaft 6having an upstanding arm 10. The shaft 7 also has' an upstanding arm 11and at one end has a depending arm 12 connected by a rod 13 with an arm14 which vuprises fromV the said shaft 6.

It will now J'be understood that by moving the arm 10 in the directionof the dart in Fig 4 that the rods 9 will operate to'open the doors 5inward to the position shown in Fig. l allowing a truck to pass throughand that a movement of the arm 11 in the same direction will operate toreturn the doors to the `closed position "since the movement of thisdirection will reverse the movement of the shaft 6.' v

Though not shown, the doors 5 at the oppositeendof the housing areoperated in the same manner but necessarily are opened outward away froman approaching truck, as that truck after treatment is passing from saidhousing.

As shown in some of the figures, the truck indicated at 15 is providedwith a pair of center or middle with awheel 17. The wheels 16 run uponthe rails lwhile ythe said wheel 17 is .designed to travel in a grooved4rail 18 located between the rails 1. VVBy this arrangement or any otherpreferred one it is designed that said'wheels 16 will be retained upontheir' rails. v

,L ing between the rails or gelt 19, see Fig. 2, which -runs oversprocket wheels'20 and 21, Fig. 1, the upper stretch of said chain beingguided over a supporting sprocket at '22,' whereby the said upperstretch willbe held up between the rails 1y for-a ypurpose-now to bedescribed.`

At one orboth ends of the truck 15 there is a depending portion 23, forexample, which hangs closek to the rails and kon said chain or belt. 19is an uprising finger 24 which in itstravel with the chain is designedto engage said portion 23 for propelling said truck. Other wheelscorresponding to 22 may, of course, be used where'desired.

25, Fig. 1, is a drive-chain driven from any suitable power source bywhich the 1 is a drag-chain chain 19 may be continuously driven.

l A loaded truck moved along upon they track 1 to the position shown atthe right in `chain or belt and it is preferable after having placed thetruckin this position to provide some meansl for preventing it movingout of the path of travel of the finger 24. This is accomplished byproviding a trip device shown clearlyin *ig. 9. It may consist of a dog26, for example, pivoted upon one of the rails l, and held by a spring27, normally in the path of one of the wheels 16 through the aid of astop` 28- on the said rail, for example. ovement of the wheel 16 in thedirection of the dart in said Fig. 9 will carry the dog downward out ofthe way but after thewheel has passed said dog will be moved to itsupright position by the spring whereupon the wheel in a retrogrademovement which may be occasioned by a back-- ward slope of the rail, asshown in Fig. 1, will lodge against i It is preferred, as shown in saidFig. 1, to thus incline the track lrupwardly toward and into the housing4 and thence downwardly to a slightly lower level and thence vagainupwardlv toward the opposite end of therhousing. The purpose of thiswill be understood later herein. K

The'bottom of the trough3 preferably slopes downwardly from keach endtoward a ymiddle lowermorst portion 29Kin which is mountedy an agitator30 operated by a drivechain 31 vfrom any suitable source of power at 32,for example, while above said portion andsaid agitator, is apump 33 ofthe rotary type, for example, driven yfrom the agitatory 30 forinstance, through a chain 34. 35 is a pipe uprising from the extendinglongitudinally throughout a portion of the housing 4 and terminating ina series of Vdependingnozzles 36, 37 and 38 out Vof which the paintingor coating material issues in unbroken streams fromsaid pump 33.

39 isa chain'or belt-similar to de i scribed, which runs over wheels 40,41, one of" which may be driven from the (power source atk 32, forexample, by means of belts 42 and 43. l

44 is a supporting wheelV or upper stretch of this chain or belt toVhold that stretch-in line withthe track 1 ashas been previouslydescribed with reference to said Vbelt-chain or belt 19, and this member39 is provided with ka finger 45corresponding to 24.

It is observed in Fig. chains or belts 19 and'39 beyond one another atthe supporting wheels orpulleys 21, 40. By this arrangement, in themovement of thechain 19, a truck shown at the left of Fig. 1 will vbecarried to a 2 that -these two Vextend somewhat point where the finger24 willr pass ofi of the depending portion 23 of said truck asin pumpand 'l pulley for the .every surface thereof Fig.y 3, the nger'45 lofthe belt or chainv39 being in position to engage said depending portionand carry the truck outside the housing. v v

At this point of the track also is a dog already described'r inlconnection with Fig. 9. The chain or belt 19 isdesigned to travel at adefinite rate of speed to move the truck in the direction'of the arrow,Fig.'1, into the housing beneath thel depending nozzles 38 from'whichthepaint or other material'is deposited upon the articles carried by thetruck, the doors vbeing vopened and closed automatically as some part ofthe truck meetsy the parts 10'and11.V

' ln a further travel of the truck isIpasses successively under theother'no'zzles ofthe pipe until having arrived at the far end of thehousing and having passed from beneath the last of the nozzlesheld bythedog 26 onv the inclined track.

`The belt-chain for' belt 39 is preferably given a slower rate of travelthan the chain or belt 19 so that 'the"truck, which it is to remove fromthe housing, will have had ample time to properly drain.

As it passes beneath the nozzles theload of y articles is so drenchedthat 'every portion thereof becomes thoroughly covered with the paintingmaterial. The length of time the articles are permitted to vdraindepends, ofcourse, upon the fluidity and character of the material used.

'1n assisting the liquid to search throughout the materialupon thetruckand reach erably tippedsidewise asV shown in Fig. 5, while travelingupon the downwardly inf clined track, Fig. 1, the deposited materialfrom the nozzles flowing over and between the articles, being dischargedinto thel trough 3. VVThis tipping is done by making one railhigher-than the other, as shown.

In order that Vthe vtruck'willl not be permitted to turn overl provide.a guard-rail 46, clearly shown in Fig. 7. This is at a higher level thanthe rails and is spaced outward from one of themand lies parallel to it,being supportedin any suitable -man- On some portion of the truck,suchas one I of the-,wheel journals,-is afprojection 47 which, in theposition shownm said Fig. 5, A, engages beneath '-'5'5- saidlguard-rail.v .In this manner any' degree Vof tip may be' imparted to thetruck without that member tipping over.` Y A In passing froml the'guard-railthe truck then assumes its normal upright position untilhaving reached vthe far end or. delivery end of the housing, 1t 1stipped in the 'oppof site direction being sustained in that position bya similar guard-rail 48 at the opposite side of the truck, the railatthat side being raisedhigher than the other.

the truck isv thevsaid truck is preftiming of the' movement of the'trucks through the chains or belts being-such that each load will becarried into the housing, drenched, and then thoroughly drained beforebeing delivered at the far end ready for the assembling depart-ment ofkthe plant. Other means of mani] aulating the trucks and other'mea'ns ofcarrying them may be'readily adopted and any other means lmay beused'than that described fortilting them for draining purposes.

' The housing 4 is merely provided as a safety measure as hasbeen'stated herein but, in practice, it may not be used.

In Fig. 10, and following, is shown'a form of apparatus for immersingthe truck and its contents, the housing being indicated at 4. The track49 for the truck being indicatedv at 50 is inclinedY a trough 51deepenough to submerge the contents on the truck.V 1f these articles are ofwood they may beprevented from floating by caging themfor by tying themupon the truck. j

52 is a chain orf belt corresponding to 19 of the earlier figures, theupper stretch of w'hichlies'between the rails as before and carries the'upstanding finger or. fingers -53 `to engage the depending portion 492,yfor example, on the truck. Y 54 indicates suitable wheels to supportsaid upper stretch and 55 indicates the grooved rail for -the truckcorresponding to 18 inthe other figures.

At 156. isa dog -to` engage one of the wheels 49 ofthe truck, forvthepurpose be# forey describedfandthis dog is pivoted to the rail at 57. 58is a limiting stop and 59 is a spring to hold the'y dog in its normal orraised -position tol receive the Vvtruck wheel, Vit being-observed thatin Fig. 10 the truck after`- having-been immersed is lodgedupon theinclined rail near the exit end of the housing where 1t may drain foraproper length" of time; Y

'On the truck yis a projection 6() corresponding to 47. of the earlierfigures, and 61 is a chainl or belt running'over suitable wheels, one ofvvwhich is shown at62, provided with a finger' to engage said finger60;VA As before, Ythe chain or'belt 52 delivers the truck ,behind thestop upon ythe in cline'd track-and rthe chain or belt 61,which isdesignedito travel at a slowerspeed than the chain or belt 52, removesthe truck after having vbeen properly drained. l

It is understood, of course, that the trucks are placed in position tobe engaged by the finger 53 only as required. That is to say,

depending upon the speed of travel through the truck being A quicklythe" one being drained unless' indeed iso provision is made upon theinclined' track for storing several of the trucks during the Y drainingperiod.

In addition to the saidV inclined track ywhere the draining takes place,as shown in F ig. 12, one of the rails 50 may be higher than the otherso that the fluid can drain in two directions.

In lieu of tilting the truckbodily I may merely tilt its platform for,draining purposes, or I may so mount the load upon the platform that itmay be tilted irrespective ofthe truck and its platform thereby meaningto make clear thefact that it is my desireand intent to provide anymeans by which the: articles to be treated can be handled in any way sothat their thorough coating with the paint and theirv proper drainagewill be assured.

s angeXample, the larticles may be suspended in a basket from anoverhead track arranged in a manner similar to the tracks I' 1 .and 50so that the tilting of thev articles is accomplished.

The trucks may be moved along the track byy hand, if desired, but theautomatic feature is, of course, preferable. i :j

Having thus described my invention, I claim z-y y 1. In an apparatus forthe purposes de scribed, fin combination, a wheeled carriage forcontaining articles to be treated, la track arranged whereb the saidcarriage in passing over it Vwill lie tipped in all directions, andmeans for conveying aftreating material and discharging it upon ysaidarticles.

2. In anapparatus Afor the purposes described, in combination, a track,a carriage arranged tok travel uponthe same andgtilted therebytovarious' positions in its passage over it, saidcarrying articles to betreated, means to move the carriage, `and means for conveying a treatingmaterial alongy above the track and for dischargingit upon theVarticlesin the various tilted positions of 3. In an apparatus for thepurposes described,vin combination, a support,a. carriagearranged totravel thereon for carrying articles to be treated, said support beingarranged whereby to tilt the carriage and itsvcontents. and meansforcarrying a treating material `and discharging itupon said articles. i

4. In :an apparatus for the purposes def scribed, a support, a carriagearranged to travel thereon, said support being arranged whereby to .tiltthe carriage and its contents, means for carrying a material anddischarging it upon the articles, and means vfor moving thecarriagealong said support.

5 In an apparatus for the purposesdescribed, in combination, a track anda carriage to travel thereon for containing arti,T cles to be treated,said track having its rails .liquid material includnig a series ofnozinclined upwardly' and downwardly wherebyvinits travel the carriagewillbe inclined endwise rstin onedirection and then in the other, saidrails also being higher and lower with respect to one another wherebythe carriage will be tilted sidewise first in one direction and then inthe other, and means to convey a treating material, the same havingdischarge nozzles disposed at various positions along the track adaptedto discharge the material upon said articles.

6. In an apparatus for-the purposes described, asupporting track, ,acarriage arranged to travel thereonfor containing articles to betreated, means to automatically engage and move the carriage along thetrack and` 4automatically disengage therefrom leaving said carriage at apredetermined point, a conduit containing the coating Vmaterial and fordischarging it upon the articles, andothermeans to engage and move thecarriage from said predetermined point. i l .i

7. In van apparatus for the purposes 1described, a carriage`for-containing articles to be treated,` a supporting track therefor y,whose rails are arranged to v'cause said carriage in its travel to tiltyin each of several directionsV -at diil'erent places along said track,means to engage yand propel the carriage and deposit itat agivenposition in its travel, other meansto engage and propel it fromthat position, and a conduit for carrying and, for discharging acoatingmaterial upon the (articles.y l.

8. In anapparatus forv the purposes described, a' ysupporting trackv acarriage 4arranged to travel upon said track for carryingvarticles toloe' treated, 4a conduit for a ico zles .suspended abo-ve zthe path Voftravel of thetiuck-andfits contents, means to continuously supplyr said:conduit withagflow of said material, means .to lengage and move theVcarriage part of its travel along its track and discharge it, and othermeanstov engage the carriageandrontinue its movement. .i

. 9. In an Vapparatus for thepurposes describedfagsupportingtrack, acarriage arranged to travel upon the same for contain- ,11.5

ing articles to be treated.,I saidtrack being inclined longitudinallythroughoutA a' part of its lengthpkzwherebyftotilt the carriage,` andmeans .carrying a coating materialand discharging upon said articles.12.0 10. In an apparatus forvthe-purposes de- A scribed, asupportingtrack, a carriagearranged `to travel upon the same for con-` tainingarticles to be treated, said track being. incline-d longitudinally;throughout a V V partof its length, and one of its rails being higherthan the otherthroughout a part of its length whereby to'tiltthe'carriage, a container forV a coating material and means for causingits discharge upon said articles,

ios Y and means to move the carriage along its and a part Jforcontaining a material for track. Y depositing it upon said articles.

11. In an apparatus for the purposes de- 14. An apparatus for thepurposes described, a supporting track, a receiver bescribed, includingin its construction, a neath the same for a liquid coating matetra-ck, acarriage supported thereon for con-y rial, a carriage supported upon thetrack taining articles to be treated, a dog in the and movable along thesame, a conduit inpath of the carriage, a traveling member cluding aseries'of discharge nozzles overto engage and move the carriage alongthe i hanging the path of travel of the carriage, track into engagementwith said dog, a sec- -means to supply the conduit with a steady ondtraveling member moving at a slower low of material from said receiver,the speed than the rst adapted to engage and said supporting track beinginclined longiF move the carriage and move it away from tudinallythroughout a portion of its length said dog, and means containing aliquid mafor tilting the carriage, a portion of one of terial and fordepositing it upon the arits rails being higher'than the other. ticlesduring their travel.

12. In an apparatus'for the purposes de- 15. An apparatus for thepurposes described, a supporting track, a receiver bescribed includingin its construction a track, v

neath the same for a liquid coating material, a carriage to travelthereon for containing a carriage supported upon and movable articles tobe coated, said track being conalong the track, means to move the carstructed thereby to tilt the carriage in any riage, a conduit includinga series of disone of several directions, means lying adjacharge nozzlesoverhanging the path ot cent the track for preventing the carriagetravel of the carriage, and means to supoverturning while in its tiltedpositions, the ply the conduit with a steady flow of matesame lying invposition to be engaged by rial from said receiver, the said track besaidcarriage, a receptacle for containing a ing inclined longitudinallythroughout porcoating material and for depositing such tions of itslength for tilting the carriage, material upon the articles, means toautosections of one rail being alternately higher matically engage andpropel the carriage to and lower than the corresponding sections apredetermined position along the track of the other rail for tilting.the carriage in and then release it, a dog to automatically its passageover it. v engage and hold the carriage when released,

13. In an apparatus for the purposes deand a second means toautomatically enscribed including a supporting track, a cargage and movethe carriage to a new posiriage for containing articles to be treatedtion upon the track.

Varranged to move along upon said track, In testimony whereor` I aliX mysignature means to automatically engage and propel in presence of twowitnesses.

the carriage a predetermined distance, a' stop to automaticallyengageand hold the JUIJIUS E. KARL. carriage after the travel impartedto it,` Witnesses: Y other means forautomatically engaging and kRoscoeHERGET, withdrawing the carriage from said stop, L. M. THURLow.

